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Bulgaria Expat Forum

beyond the initial 3 month tourist visa

I was wondering what visa/immigration barriers there might be should I, after the initial 1-3 months of visiting Bulgaria, decide to extend my stay - possibly for another 3 months or longer, even.

Is there any advice from British citizens regarding this?

One reason is the rentals are typically long-term, it seems (minimum 6mnths), and the airbnb options are a little out of my budget or are booked up. Seems to me there is a bit of a gap in the middle so I'd like to hear from anyone with any advice on this, speaking personally or otherwise.

We were here for over a year before we applied for our Long Term Residency and this appears to be quite a common phenomena. As passports are no longer stamped between EU countries there is no immediate evidence as to when you arrived. We didn't do this purposefully we were A) busy hitting the ground running and B) fannying around worrying about a very easy process. It took a blow by blow account of the process posted by another ex pat applying for Long Term Residency that spurred us into action. If you do eventually decide to apply for long term residency (Lichna Karta) the expiry date of your passport and EHIC will determine the length of the Lichna Karta issued. So if you have, for example 8 years on your passport but 18 months on your EHIC card then the Lichna Karta will be issued for 18 months.

Expats living in Bulgaria can have all kinds of experiences while living abroad there. The capital city of Sofia offers a much different experience compared to what expats will experience in a Bulgarian village. These tips will help you understand what it means to live as an expat in Bulgaria.

Expats living in Bulgaria can have all kinds of experiences while living abroad there. The capital city of Sofia offers a much different experience compared to what expats will experience in a Bulgar...

Expats who move to Bulgaria have a wide variety of options to choose from in terms of where to live. Whether you want to live off the grid, in the mountains, or by the sea, it's all there to be had as long as you do the appropriate research and understand some of the unique aspects of successfully moving to Bulgaria.

Expats who move to Bulgaria have a wide variety of options to choose from in terms of where to live. Whether you want to live off the grid, in the mountains, or by the sea, it's all there to be had a...